Unmei Force Shattered Heroes: Creative Power

Chapter 3: Underground Rumble


Boki immediately drill-kicked her way through several layers of crystal walling, as it managed to get them into a new cave-like area, as they saw that there were various forms of crystals around them, as Boki was the most interested.

"Wow! So many crystals…!" Boki remarked with eyes wide with joy.

"This is what was under the chemical plant… Pretty nice place…! I like the look!" Popol commented, as Heiwa nodded silently.

The group then moved across the area, before they were blocked by a wall made of crystal. However, Boki made quick work of it, as she carved a path open for them with well-aimed kicks from her crystalline feet, before Heiwa triggered some mines next to another block of crystals, which blew it up.

Popol and Heiwa then found some Explode power-ups, as it helped them to destroy any crystal spikes or blocks in their way, as they encountered robots that looked like large skulls with long fins as arms, and small drones that crawled across the walls, as they descended down the area to destroy the enemies along the way.

As they reached the next area, they were suddenly surprised by the sound of something drilling towards them, as a large black cone-like robot with a drill-head flew in front of them, with a spray of shattered crystals, as it landed upright, having black-and-yellow markings around it, with a danger sign on its main body, as well as a pair of black triangle eyes on its white visor. After staring at the group for a few moments, it then drilled out of the area.

"What the heck was that?" Boki remarked, being the first to comment.

"You were getting dangerously close to the Cybers' factory. They detonated the building you were in, to dump you into the caves below." Savant explained. "It looks like they have an active mining operation down here. Take out that drilling robot you just saw!"

"Right… But we'll have to find it in another area, it's gone already…" Heiwa remarked, as the group encountered a few miner robots, which dropped dynamite power-ups for them, as it gave Popol's spear a timed detonation charge that he stuck to the enemies he struck, while Heiwa's fireballs became rolling bombs that she threw towards her targets, as the group managed to get to the next area quickly.

They found themselves before a small mound of earth, as Boki began to mine through it, before she then accidentally kicked a TNT block hidden underneath it, as it began to audibly beep and glow, as the trio panicked and ran as far away as they could, before the passage was blown open for them.

"Good thing we got time to run…" Popol stated. "...All in favour of not hitting something like that again up close?"

Boki and Heiwa fearfully nodded, as they dropped down the passage, and found the drilling robot, as it threw dynamite sticks and drill missiles at them, before it then retreated after taking some damage, allowing the group to continue advancing through the areas, using dynamite sticks and powers to safely detonate the various TNT blocks scattered across the areas, in order to reach and finish off the enemies nearby.

"A warning for you, Constructs can be exceedingly resourceful. Watch out for ones that absorb the power of their fallen comrades." Savant warned the group.

"What do you mean? They can do the same thing we can?" Popol asked back, as they found there was a lone Exchikke through a gap between the walls, as Boki destroyed it.

When she did so, however, a ghostly lantern-like robot appeared behind the gap, as it hovered towards the Force power-up the Exchikke dropped, as the sole eye began to gradually grow red in hue as it began to scan the power-up, before transforming in a flash of red, turning into a larger and more complete form, with tattered robes for its body, and a bony hand holding a chained lantern, with a jagged maw.

"Oh, so that's what Savant meant." Popol deadpanned. "But it ain't scaring me! I'm going to take it down anyway!"

The trio began to fight the phantom robot, as it fired Force shots from its lantern, before it then exploded, dropping its stolen Force Power-up, which Boki took, as they travelled down, while Boki got a new combination from the Lightning, Bounce and Force power-ups, as she threw sprays of electrical sparks that bounced off the walls, and honed towards nearby enemies. They also faced more of the ghostly robots, making their first priority in destroying them before they could steal a power-up and transform themselves.

Eventually, they cleared the area, as it dropped them in a long hallway, with a large magma pool beneath them, as the trio winced, moreso when one of the skull-like robots used the magma to give them a more molten appearance, as well as drop flames wherever they landed. Despite this, the group managed to traverse between the platforms carefully, and destroy all robots around them, using some careful aiming.

The next area took them to a small arena, with many small pockets scattered across the entire room. Already anticipating a tough fight, they readied themselves, just as the drilling robot revealed itself again, drilling through the magma itself, and landing before them.

Drilling, Dynamiting, Demolishing

Terebryll

The group immediately battered the robot, while dodging its thrown dynamite, before it then moved away, dropping a Dynamite power-up, as it moved into one of the pockets, while firing drill-missiles through the walls to attack the group. Heiwa took the power-up, as she used her brush to bat the detonating fireballs into the pocket and hit the robot, forcing it to come out.

The robot continued the move through the arena, all while miner robots dropped down to support it, as Boki and Heiwa flushed it out of the pocket several times, while Popol rapidly mowed down the miner robots and giving the drilling robot some explosive blows.

Eventually, Boki finished it up with a spread of dynamite sticks around the robot, all planted around it, as the resulting explosion broke the platform it was on, and left very little scrap remaining of it.

"It's finally dead! That was a long fight… It kept running away!" Boki complained.

"You're not out of the caves yet, though. Keep going!" Savant encouraged the group.

"Right!" Popol exclaimed back, as the next area took them into a small room, as there was a gap for where they could see something on the other end, as it was a small spherical penguin robot which bounced around the area like a ball.

"Huh? What's this?" Heiwa commented, as she walked to get a closer look through the gap, as she felt warmth in her heart at how cute the robotic creature was. "It's so cute being round like this."

Boki didn't comment, as she walked over, and used a well-aimed kick to send the spherical penguin bouncing across the room, as it seemed to have hit some TNT crates, as the top of the room exploded, revealing a passage up.

They soon saw a penguin robot rolling around, as Popol wielded his spear, before then smacking it with an under-hand swing like a golf club, as it sent the penguin robot bouncing around, as it hit one of the laser drones and smashed it to pieces.

"Oh, so that's what these round penguins are for! This might be fun!" Popol grinned, as the door ahead opened for them, before the penguin returned towards him, as it smacked right into his face, knocking him down, although it only bounced off him harmlessly. "Oof!"

Heiwa laughed at Popol, while Boki chuckled under her breath, as Popol stood back up, gently growling. However, he didn't seem to be too angry, as he just smiled after he fully got up.

"Didn't hurt! That just means that this is going to really suck for the enemies!" Popol remarked, as they watched as more penguin robots were spawned, as the three of them knocked them around the area, using them to smash the robots around the area to pieces.

"Alright, that was a fun level!" Boki remarked, before she then noticed that Heiwa was snuggling against one of the smaller ones in her arms, with a meek expression on her face. "What you're doing, Heiwa?"

"They're just so cuddly." Heiwa remarked, as the robot let out a few high-pitched sounds, as Heiwa giggled gently, before they were moved to the next area, as the robot disappeared from her arms, making her down in the moods. "Aw…"

They were in a small room, although they heard the sound of treads approaching, as well as the sound of clinking metal, as a large metallic piranha-head broke through the wal ahed of them, as it was connected by a large jointed chain to a threaded tank with short legs and exhaust pipes.

"I think we should go for that head, it looks vulnerable enough!" Boki exclaimed, as the three of them attacked the head, dodging its thrusting attacks, and shooting down any missiles that it was firing.

Eventually, the mobile tank was damaged enough for it to become disabled, as the head drooped out of its place, as Boki went inside the tank through the entrance, as she then controlled it, causing the head to be put back into place.

Popol and Heiwa decided to hitch a ride on the tank, as it used rocket thrusters to hover through the air, as well as being able to fire off a powerful breath of fire in addition to its shredding head and missiles, as Boki even used the weight of the machine to crush any robots underneath it, before they encountered a Virs, which Boki blasted apart with a charged fire-breath from her new vehicle,

They moved onto the next area, as Boki looked at the crystals around her, with some drool from her mouth.

"A crystal quarry sounds like a pretty delicious place to be, meow." Boki remarked.

"I know you eat gemstones, but this isn't a fine dining simulator. Don't get distracted." Savant reminded Boki.

"Really, you eat crystals? How do they taste?" Heiwa asked out of curiosity.

"Really nice, some taste like proper fruits, and some have a taste that I can't exactly describe to you both, since you might not be too familiar with the cuisine here." Boki explained.

"I guess you really like being in these kinds of places, right? I have a feeling you're comfortable here." Popol asked as well.

"That's right, we Kitera usually dwell in cave systems like this." Boki confirmed, before noticing that the nearby robots were going towards them to fight. "Oh, we should get back to fighting, the enemy is coming for us!"

Popol immediate picked up a Mirror power-up, which was symbolised with a blue hexagon, as he used it to create swing strikes that left behind a reflective trail that sent any attacks that touched it right back towards the attackers, as he carefully used them to parry blade attacks from the blade robots, and even knock dynamite sticks back towards the miner robots that threw them, as they traversed down the cave, before Boki destroyed a Virs by triggering a chain of TNT blocks underneath it, while it was inactive.

The next area took them out of the cave system, and into a elevator shaft, as they looked up to see that it was a long way up.

"You're directly under the factory now. Expect lots of resistance." Savant warned the trio.

"Don't worry, we can handle this!" Popol declared with confidence, before he then felt the entire elevator shaft shake, as some flaming debris fell down towards them, as they dodged it. "...Well, barring some minor problems."

The three of them travelled up the shaft, using platforms being created by cube-like robots with energy rods, to get higher through the shaft, and dodging the falling flame debris that was periodically falling down, and facing various enemies that were in their way, as Popol managed to collect a mix of Explode, Lightning and Remote, as it gave his spear a hellish-red colour, as he used it to teleport towards his enemies and rend them with a dark-red cleaving strike, as he got ahead of both Boki and Heiwa, hitting the generator above them, which opened the gates above for them to pass through into the next area.

When they did reach the next area, they found themselves in complete darkness, unable to see anything but the platform of scrap below them. However, it was not for long, as a metallic face with triangle eyes and a grille for a mouth appeared in front of them, with fires behind them.

"THIS IS THE END OF THE LINE, CAT AND ABOMINATIONS!" A grating voice boomed through the room. "I'LL MOW YOU DOWN LIKE GRASS!"

"Abominations? Why I oughta…!" Popol exclaimed, not pleased with what he heard.

The room suddenly turned bright, as they found themselves in a arena room made from scrap with platforms, as the source of the face and voice was a massive boiler robot with four metallic limbs, each wielding a mace, hammer, saw-blade and drill.

Teamwork Tyrant

Maszylg

The large robot immediately began to attack the group, cocking back its limbs, and throwing them forward, as the attack smashed, sawed, and drilled through whatever they touched, including the various robots that were dropping down to aid it in taking down the three young heroes.

Heiwa immediately evaded the robot's attacks, as she collected power-ups across the area, as she took in a mix of Force, Plasma and Quick, as the tip of her brush turned three-tone with the white and pink colours, as she immediately fired off a spray of pink fire wisps that honed on the limbs, damaging them severely, and destroying the drill, which dropped a large power-up with the spiral symbol, as Popol picked it up, as his spear-tip turned into a drill.

When he used it to fight the robots, his thrusts caused the drill to enlarge itself, as it drilled through them very easily. He even used it to break through another of the large robot's limbs, destroying its hammer.

Boki destroyed the mace with a series of homing rockets from a mix of Quick, Explode and Force, as it dropped a large power-up with the symbol of the mace, as she picked it up, and her crystals turned dull grey, as she swung her arm, as it created a large mace-head which smashed through anything in its path. With the rest of her power-ups, Heiwa finished off the saw, as the large robot let out an enraged roar, as it tried to crush them under its weight, sending flaming debris dropping down each time it slammed into the ground.

However, Popol and Boki attacked the robot from both sides with drill and mace, as they heavily damaged the hull of the robot, hitting it as many times as possible before it would fly up for another drop. Eventually, Popol managed to leap into the air, as he dealt a downwards drill-strike that went right through the robot, destroying it with a spectacular explosion of flames.

Boki noticed that there was a gate ahead of them, as she used the large mace to destroy it, before gesturing for the others to follow her, as they escaped into the passage.

"THE ENTANMAS IS ENTERING THE FACTORY!"

"STOP HER AT ONCE! THE PRODUCTION LINES MUST KEEP RUNNING!"